Friday, September 27, 2013

Students vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous landlords.

In the past few years many International students have been vulnerable to these unscrupulous landlords. Many of them don't know of their rights or how to fight for their rights.

At the start of the semester when the new students arrive  RMIT holds these very brief housing sessions which don't mention much about the tenant rights and unscrupulous landlords.

The AFIS day last semester talked a lot about tenant rights. They had a housing session on knowing your rights. But the question is: how many students actually know of their rights and exercise them when it comes to renting?

Breaking leases is one big issue for many students. Many students during their time in their houses need to break a lease. Sometimes though it can be really hard and costly. One thing that students should do is to get a receipt for any payments made and things in writing. This can form evidence should a student wish to break their lease.

Over the past year students have asked about breaking leases and putting their ads up on Facebook. One person I know which is an unscrupulous landlord, is the RMIT village. They charge students lots of money for just a tiny room. Even if they want to lease they still charge money just until another student comes along.

Some landlords love to keep the students bonds but kick the students out, even if they did nothing wrong. They are not supposed to do this.

 One of our students lived in a house that had no heating and had lots and lots of pests. It was in an outer suburb of Melbourne and they were forced to pay $700 per month just for the tiny house. Whenever things broke down the landlord refused to fix even though the student request these things as they were important.

In the end they were kicked out just for making a complaint.

There is and has always been a greater need for more affordable housing in Melbourne. There also needs to be a lot more regulations about what the landlord can and can't do.In the coming months with a new government there might just be more funding for better housing. In fact there is a Facebook page called " Affordable housing for all Australians" which I encourage you to join.

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